KEYS Job Centre
KEYS Job Centre hired D&D Inclusion Consulting to conduct baseline research on the diversity, equity and inclusion practices of workplaces within the City of Kingston, in particular small and medium sized businesses.
The purpose of the research was to inform the development and delivery of intercultural training to Kingston-area employers with the ultimate goal of improving immigrant employment outcomes. As part of the research, KEYS Job Centre wanted to know the answers to the following questions:
What is the overall level of intercultural competence in the Kingston-area workforce?
How diverse and inclusive are Kingston-area employers? What practices exist to support diversity and inclusion?
What best practices exist within Kingston-area workplaces?
What challenges do workplaces face in recruiting and retaining a culturally-diverse workforce?
Based on the above, what are key recommendations for training and coaching to improve intercultural competence, diversity and inclusion within Kingston-area workplaces?
We took the following steps to conduct the baseline research:
Step 1) The consulting team conducted a literature review of promising practices on diverse, equitable and inclusive recruitment and retention practices, including leading practices with respect to internationally trained individuals. Data was also mined from Statistics Canada to highlight immigrant labour market trends in Kingston.
Step 2) The consulting team designed and administered two surveys: one for Kingston-area employers and another for Kingston-area employees. The employer survey collected demographic information and asked questions on the benefits of hiring for diversity as well as the challenges in hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. The employee survey collected demographic information and asked questions on perceptions of diverse hiring, opportunities for growth, feeling valued and respected, and experiences with discrimination in the workplace.
Step 3) To dig deeper into some of the survey findings, the consulting team conducted focus groups with Kingston-area employers and employees, including immigrants and Canadian born workers. The consulting team also conducted interviews with key stakeholders, including businesses, internationally-trained individuals, and service providers.
Step 4) The literature review, surveys and focus groups culminated into a final report that highlighted Kingston’s labour market trends, baseline information on diversity, equity and inclusion in Kingston-area workplaces, and challenges in immigrant recruitment and retention. The report provided recommendations on how to address gaps in diversity, equity and inclusion and immigrant recruitment and retention at a systemic and service-system level and through employer-led initiatives.
Step 5) The research from the final report was used to produce an infographic that was shared with KEYS Job Centre’s stakeholders and community.
“We hired Dipal and Ted to conduct research on baseline diversity and inclusion practices of Kingston employers and to better understand immigrant recruitment and retention in the Kingston-area. Their familiarity with diversity and inclusion, combined with their research expertise, was very helpful in defining the project. They provided high quality research and analysis through online surveys, a literature review, informant interviews and focus groups. Dipal and Ted were a pleasure to work with, communicating promptly, professionally, and with patience and clarity. They pushed well beyond the scope of the project to provide us with comprehensive research. We are very impressed with their final report and find it to be a thorough and interesting read that can guide us in our future work. We are excited to share the report with our partners and to work with the Kingston community to implement the findings.”
